This invention relates generally to deployable structures. More specifically, the invention relates to structural members which are deployable from a compact initial state.
Presently known structures that are field deployable from a stored state to an operable state suffer from disadvantages in their operable state caused by the features which make them so readily deployable. Primary among these features is flexibility. While flexibility lends itself well to compact storage, and hence portability, in the stored state, flexibility is often not a desired feature for the structure in the deployed state. This is especially true where in the deployed state the structure comprises a structural member such as a longeron or frame component.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,217,975, 6,256,938, and 6,602,574 disclose extendible hollow members having a slit running longitudinally along their length. Because of the slit, these hollow members suffer from a lack of necessary longitudinal and torsional rigidity. The aforementioned patents do not disclose means of addressing these inadequacies. Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems.